


Beyond Infinity

by Xs_Files



Category: Avengers infinity war - Fandom, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-01
Updated: 2018-05-07
Packaged: 2019-04-30 12:56:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14497452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xs_Files/pseuds/Xs_Files
Summary: Elyse was running. People were dissolving, blowing away like ashes in the light Manhattan breeze. Her powers couldn't help her now. Humanity's only hope was the Avengers. The only problem was, the Avengers were nowhere to be found.





	1. The Girl with the Golden Hair

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is my first work and I am a bit new to writing. This work includes a lot of my OC Elyse. I know how some people feel about OC's. I know they're not the original characters, and have the possibility of messing up the story, but I love the Marvel characters and they all show up in this fanfic. The next chapter will bring many of the original Marvel characters into play, and lead the adventure to come later! Please give this a chance! Hope you like it!  
> Thank you!  
> X :)

Elyse was running. She didn’t know where she was going, but anywhere was better than her newly emptied apartment. People were screaming. People were crying. People were… dissolving. Turning to dust and blowing away in the light Manhattan wind. She had watched her parents float gently to the floor of their kitchen, as they made dinner together. Elyse wanted to cry, wanted to scream and fall to the floor in sorrow. But the tears wouldn’t come, her voice wouldn’t scream, all she could do was run.  
She had grabbed her school backpack, thrown in her black hoodie and LuLuLemon tights, took a phone charger and computer, along with a few protein bars, and headed out the door. At once she realized her parents disintegrating was no uncommon fate today. She didn’t understand how, but people all around her were blowing away, leaving trails of dust. She ran to the nearest shadow, the tree in front of the apartment, and disappeared through it. She used her powers to manipulate the shadow to crawl up the wall of the highest building on the street. Once she reached the top, she pulled herself out of the shadow and stood on the roof of the building. From there, she could see Avengers tower glowing in the distance. It was about 20 miles away and Elyse needed to get there fast so she could offer as much help as she could. She debated calling Wanda, but figured that her Avenger friend would be busy trying to save the world.  
Elyse jumped from roof to roof, changing her shadow to physical form once in a while to use as a boost. Once she got close enough that she could navigate herself to the tower, she used her shadow to glide down the side of the final building and re-emerge back on the street. She finished the last few blocks by foot, but was surprised by what she saw. Avengers tower had a large posted sign in front. It read: 

SOLD: AVENGERS TOWER  
CLYDE AND ASSOCIATES

 

What? She thought to herself. Elyse moved past the large sign and read a second one posted in big red letters on the large door of the tower. 

NO TRESPASSING  
VIOLATORS WILL  
BE PROSECUTED

“No!” Elyse said frustrated. “They can’t have moved this fast!”  
“They did.” A voice behind her surprised Elyse who turned around quickly. A plump, averagely tall man stood behind her. He wore a black suit and a grimm face. “They finished moving upstate about a month ago.”  
“Where upstate?” Elyse asked not thinking.  
“Why do you want to know?” The man asked. “Are you hoping they can save us?”  
Elyse said nothing.  
“Well I hate to tell you kid, but no one knows where any of the Avengers are. They’ve all disappeared from New York.”  
“You mean after that donut ship came?”  
“Yes.”  
“You can’t be sure of that.” Elyse pushed. “They’re probably all somewhere trying to fix this.”  
“Maybe, or they’re all dead.” The man looked at his phone.  
Elyse was getting frustrated.  
“How do you know so much about the Avengers?” She challenged. “How could you possibly know where they are now?”  
“Because I work for Stark.” The man looked at her stunned face. “They call me Happy.”  
“That’s ironic.”  
Happy narrowed his eyes at her.  
“Who are you?”  
“Elyse.”  
“How old are you?”  
“16.”  
“Why are you here?”  
“I wanted to help them.”  
“And how were you planning on doing that?” Happy asked raising his eyebrows.  
Elyse took a breath and turned her palm up. A puff of black mist floated out of her hand. She then turned it into a perfectly rounded solid sphere and threw it to Happy like a ball. He caught it, and nodded his head contently.  
“Do you know the Avengers?” He asked quietly.  
“Only one, Wanda, but I know her very little. We had ice cream once.”  
“But you still want to help?”  
“My parents are dead.” Elyse said looking down. “I came out of my apartment after watching them die, and saw many, many more disintegrate. I want to help my city the best I can, but I can’t do that if everyone is gone. I don’t know what’s happening, but I can’t just stand by and let it go on.” Elyse stood tall and looked straight into Happy’s eyes. He took a breath.  
“Then come with me.” Happy turned and started walking towards a short storage building next to Avengers tower. Elyse followed, confused. Happy moved to the biggest storage door, probably 50 by 50 feet, and typed a code into the lock. The door opened to reveal a small quinjet.  
“What is this doing here?” Elyse asked.  
“Mr. Stark decided to leave a quinjet in Manhattan just in case they ever needed a ride back to the new base.” Happy pulled out a hands free key and clicked a button. The backdoor of the quinjet opened and Elyse followed Happy inside. He flipped a switch on the jet’s console and it backed out of the storage shed. He then flipped another switch and the propellers began to turn.  
“Okay, rule number one.” Happy started. “Stay in your seat.” He looked at Elyse who was not sitting down.  
“You need to be sitting for me to explain rule number two.”  
“Oh right yes okay.” Elyse slipped past Happy and sat in the co-pilot seat.  
“What are you doing?” Happy looked exasperated.  
“I’m sitting, you told me to sit. You didn’t specify where.” Elyse said.  
“Alright you know what, whatever! Now there’s a rule number three I have to explain too.” Happy flipped another switch that Elyse recognised as autopilot.  
“Rule number two!” Happy walked away and sat in one of the passenger seats. Elyse turned in her chair. “Don’t touch anything.” He buckled himself in.  
“And rule number three!” He closed his eyes. “Don’t talk.”  
“Can I ask a question quickly?” Elyse asked as the plane took off heading North.  
“No.”  
“How long is this flight?”  
“20 minutes.”  
“Oh, not so bad then. Why do they call you Happy?”  
“Rule number three, Elyse. Rule number three.”  
“Right sorry.” Elyse sat back in her seat.  
“Hey Happy?” She said after a minute of silence.  
Elyse received a grunt in return.  
“What if they are all dead?”  
Happy opened his eyes.  
“Now who’s the pessimist?” He asked.  
“It’s just scary, you know?” Elyse said. “Without them… there’d be no hope left.”  
Happy sighed and unbuckled his seatbelt. He walked over to the cockpit and sat in the driver's seat.  
“Then I suppose people like you are going to have to be humanity’s hope.”  
“That’s a lot of responsibility.”  
“And no one knows you have it yet.” Happy said, looking at her. “Let’s see what we’re dealing with first, then we can figure out how to save the world.”  
Elyse nodded.  
“I’m sorry about your parents.” Elyse looked at him suddenly. “I’m impressed by how brave you are, wanting to help the Avengers. You have to know, before we get there, that they have all lost something like you have. They will respect you, but naturally want to protect you. They might not want your help.”  
Elyse took a breath.  
“That doesn’t mean I can’t offer.”  
Happy chuckled.  
“What?” Elyse asked.  
“You remind me of the first time I met Natasha Romanoff. She was smart, and protective, and always willing to do her job. I think she’d like you”  
“She’s so cool!” Elyse perked up. “I dressed up as her for Halloween once. You really think we’d get along?”  
“Don’t get your hopes up kid.” Happy said leaning back.  
Elyse huffed.  
“You know, you just violated all three rules right?”  
“Hey, I make the rules, I can break them too!” Happy said.  
They both smiled softly, and sat the next ten minutes in silence, preparing for what came next.

 

*

“Happy!” Pepper Potts ran at her friend and wrapped him in a hug. “I’m so glad you’re okay!”  
Elyse could only just make out Pepper’s face from behind Happy’s shoulder. Her face was pink, and her eyes were red from crying. She held her phone in her hand, Tony Stark’s contact still fresh on the screen.  
“Have you heard from Tony?” Happy asked.  
“No.” Pepper looked like she was going to cry again from the mention of his name. “I’ve tried a hundred times. I can’t reach him. I’m really worried Happy. He was on that spaceship last I heard from him. Do you think whatever this apocalypse has reached him too?”  
“I don’t know.” Happy said. “But we can’t give up. What about the others? Have you tried calling them?”  
Pepper shook her head.  
“I was just about to, but--” Pepper stopped as she noticed Elyse.  
“Oh, hello.” Pepper said kindly, wiping her eyes.  
“Oh right, Ms. Potts, this is Elyse. She’s enhanced and came asking if she could help the Avengers.” Happy explained.  
“Happy she’s just a kid.” Pepper said quietly. “No offence.” She said to Elyse.  
“None taken.” Elyse smiled. “I understand why you’re hesitant, but I can help. In the past, I’ve only wanted to stop crime on a small scale level. Just some small crimes or petty thefts, but I can’t do that if all the people are gone. There has to be a way to stop this, and right now it seems like we’re the only ones who can do anything about it.”  
“Did you lose people?” Pepper asked. “During this?”  
“My parents.” Elyse noticed Pepper’s face become even more solemn.  
“I’m sorry.” Pepper said.  
“Thank you.” Elyse looked down. “They wouldn’t have wanted me to be sad, though, they just wanted me to be happy, and right now, getting the Avengers back will make everyone happy.”  
Pepper nodded.  
“Right. I’ll call Natasha. See if she’s okay.” Pepper pulled up Natasha’s contact. “Happy, why don’t you show Elyse to a guest room. There should be one next to Tasha actually.”  
“She’s staying?” Happy asked.  
“I’m staying?” Elyse was overjoyed.  
“Well, yes. We don’t know how much help were going to have from the Avengers, so we are probably going to need her. Right Happy?” Pepper said.  
“Yeah I guess.” Happy shrugged. “Alright kid, follow me.”  
Elyse said her final thank you to Pepper and followed Happy down a corridor. They went up one floor in a large glass elevator and took a left down a long glass hallway. Elyse looked at the names posted on the doors as they walked by. The first room was a guest room. It was about 16 feet long. The second door belonged to Sam Wilson, and the third to Steve Rogers. The next door belonged to someone named Peter Parker. Elyse looked at the door confused. She didn’t know of an Avenger named Peter. The fifth door belonged to Vision.  
“If he comes back, just know he’s not very keen on doors.” Happy said.  
After Vision’s room, came about a 20 foot wide area with a refrigerator, snack bar, and sitting area. After that, the rooms continued. The first room was Wanda’s. Elyse stopped as Happy walked on. Elyse poked her head into Wanda’s room. It was a light gray, and had polaroid pictures of her friends and her brother Pietro. She had a guitar in a stand and sheet music lying on her desk.  
“Hey!” Elyse turned to see an annoyed Happy. “That is not your room. Come on, keep moving!”  
Elyse closed the door and continued to follow Happy. The next room was Natasha Romanoff’s. Elyse wanted to take a look inside, but figured Happy wouldn’t be so, well… happy about it. They passed Natasha’s room and stopped at the next door.  
“This is your guest room.” Happy said opening the door. Elyse walked in to see a queen sized bed on the right wall. A desk was positioned on the wall by the door, and rectangular open cabinets were stacked under the window on the opposite wall from the door. There was a large closet built into the opposite wall from the bed, and the walls were a pale white color.  
Elyse put her backpack on the bed.  
“You can put whatever clothes you have in the closet.” Happy began. “Those little cabinets are for keepsakes and things, obviously there’s a desk, and you can change the wall color…”  
Happy dragged his finger along a colored line next to the light switch. The wall color went from white to green, to blue, to salmon.  
“You can just ask FRIDAY to change the color or turn out the lights whenever you want.” Happy demonstrated. “FRIDAY, will you change the wall colors to white?”  
“Of course sir.” An irish AI voice came out of the wall, and the wall color changed back to white.  
“Cool.” Elyse whispered.  
“Yeah. You’ll get used to it.” Happy turned. “Come on. It’s getting late. Let’s get back to Pepper and grab some dinner.”  
Elyse followed Happy back to the elevator, but this time they went up two more levels.  
“The level above where you’re staying has 12 more rooms. They are for Pepper, Tony, Colonel Rhodes, Bruce Banner, Thor, Scott Lang, Hope Pym, and King T'challa.”  
“The King of Wakanda stays here?” Elyse asked.  
“Not a lot.” Happy said as they reached the final floor. “He’s been here once to claim a room, and then he went back to rule his country.”  
“Who’s Scott Pym and Hope… Lang?” Elyse asked trying to remember names.  
“Scott Lang and Hope Pym. And their honorary Avengers.”  
“Am I an honorary Avenger?”  
“No.”  
The pair found Pepper sitting on a stool next to the large kitchen island. She was on the phone with someone.  
“Right. No I know.” Pepper was struggling through the words. “I’m glad you are okay. Come home please. Just until we can figure this out. Yes, great okay. See you soon.” Pepper hung up and buried her face in her hands. Happy sat next to her.  
“Is it worse than we thought?” He asked gently.  
“Half of them are dead Happy.” Pepper said solemnly. “Apparently Nat doesn’t even know where Tony is, and they were fighting some guy named Thanos who had these stones and he randomly killed half the universe…” Pepper looked up. “The whole saving the world thing isn’t looking to good.”  
“Who’s coming back?” Happy asked.  
“From Steve’s group, it’s only Nat, Rhody, Thor, Bruce, who’s apparently back now, and Steve obviously.”  
“That’s it?” Happy asked shocked.  
“What about Wanda?” Elyse couldn’t stop herself from asking, even though she knew the outcome.  
Pepper shook her head. Elyse looked down.  
“She apparently knew Wanda a little.” Happy told Pepper.  
“Some old guy was being mean to her in a grocery store.” Elyse said. “Something about how immigrants shouldn’t be allowed to be in America. I defended her and she took me for ice cream. I saw her again once and I showed her my powers. She was kind, and helped me control them. To me, she was my friend.”  
“Today has been awful.” Pepper wiped at her eyes. “Nat says they’re coming back and should be here by noon tomorrow.”  
“Nothing from Tony?” Happy asked.  
“No. Nothing yet.” Pepper said. “I guess we just have to wait.” Pepper stood and grabbed Lucky Charms cereal from a cabinet. After placing it on the table she grabbed spoons, bowls, and milk and began to pour the cereal into the bowls.  
“I’m not in the mood for making real dinner.” Pepper said smiling slightly. “Plus, I think we could all use a little luck right about now.”  
The three sat around the island and quietly ate the Lucky Charms together, thinking about what the next day would bring.


	2. A Tale of Two Heroes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Tony Stark returns to his home, he brings along a new asset. Tony is scared, they all are. They just hope that what Steve has to offer can give them any source of hope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's chapter 2! I decided to spit this into two chapters, so the next part of this will be chapter 3. The rest of the Avengers will be coming next! Let me know how I can improve or if you have any ideas for the next part of the story. Thanks for reading! 
> 
> X :)
> 
> Also... 50 notes already! Wow! Thank you! This was my first work and I never thought anyone would read it! :) :) :)

Chapter 2: A Tale of Two Heroes

Elyse awoke to a loud explosion that rumbled outside the Avengers base. She jumped up out of bed and ran into the lobby. She used her shadow to climb the wall and pop out of the floor above her. She saw both Pepper and Happy standing by the window, staring at a small fire coming from the front yard. Pepper wore a light purple dress robe and Happy was in green tartan pants and a white t-shirt. Elyse ran over to them and stood by Pepper. Without turning to face her Pepper placed her hand on Elyse’s shoulder.   
“What is that?” Elyse asked.   
No one responded.  
“I’m going to go check it out.” Elyse was about to dissolve through the window when Pepper stopped her.   
“No! Wait, look. There’s something moving.”   
Elyse looked further through the glass and noticed a figure moving through the flames. The single figure grew larger as it came closer and turned into two figures. The figure in front was shorter than the figure in the back and was dressed in black with glimmers of red. The taller figure, looked like it was covered in something blue and purple. They had no idea what it was.   
Suddenly, Pepper gasped.  
“Oh my god. That’s Tony! It’s him Happy. It’s him!”  
“What the hell?” Happy whispered. “Who’s that with him?”  
“I don’t know.” Pepper said. “Let’s go let them in.”  
Elyse followed an overjoyed Pepper and confused Happy down the elevator and out the main lobby. The three ran out the door to meet a bruised Tony Stark and a solemn looking blue woman. Pepper didn’t even acknowledge the woman behind Tony. She jumped at him and wrapped him in a tight hug. He winced, but hugged her back. When Pepper let go, the pair kissed quickly and held each other’s arms, forgetting about the world around them. Happy cleared his throat, and Pepper jumped slightly, pulling them both out of a trance.   
“I’m so glad you’re okay.” Tony said. “I was so worried.”  
“Tony…” Pepper started when she noticed his bruised face. She traced the outline of his face gently. Tony took her hand in his own.  
“I got off easy.” Tony said quietly. He took a breath and tried to regain some of his confidence. “Happy, glad to see you’re okay.”  
“Glad to see you’re alive, Mr. Stark.” Happy said professionally.  
Pepper looked from Tony to the blue woman and back to Tony questioningly.   
“Pep, Happy, this is Nebula.” Tony offered. “She fought by us.”  
Nebula offered a shy nod, and whispered a low “Hi”.  
Tony looked over at Elyse who wasn’t paying attention. She had locked eyes with Nebula who was eyeing her curiously.   
“Who’s the kid?” Tony asked. Elyse looked up at him  
“This is Elyse.” Pepper said. “She’s enhanced. She came to offer help.”  
“You let a kid come to help?” Tony asked annoyed.  
“Well so did you!” Pepper reminded him.  
Tony turned to Elyse.  
“No. Nope. Sorry kid, but were good. I’m not bringing anyone else into this.” Tony quickly denied Elyse all hope.  
“What?” Elyse asked. “Why?”  
“I can’t have anyone else die by my hand. Not again.” Tony said.  
“NBC said half the world is dead.” Elyse countered. “I just want to help you.”  
Tony looked like he was going to say something snappy, but Nebula cut him off.  
“We watched them all die.” She said grimmly. “That was Thanos’s doing, not yours. We need all the help we can get.”  
Tony crossed his arms.  
“We’ll talk later.”  
“How did you get back?” Pepper asked. “You took off in a spaceship.”  
“We crashed on a planet.” Tony said. “But then Nebula and her team came on a different ship. We flew that back here, but when we broke the earth's atmosphere came in to fast. We managed to slow down, but that fire you see was the ship.”  
“Come in, we’ll patch you up. Get you something to eat.” Pepper said.  
“I’ve lost my appetite.” Tony said. “But our bed does sure sound good right about now.”  
Pepper rolled her eyes.   
“You don’t want to talk about this?” Pepper said. “We need to know what’s going on Tony.”  
“Yeah, yeah I know.” Tony looked down. “Have you heard from anyone else? Banner maybe?”  
“Steve has him.” Pepper said. “Where did he come from?”  
“Don’t know-did you say Steve?” Tony said quickly.  
“Yes. He’s apparently in Wakanda. There was a fight or something. I talked to Natasha, but she didn’t seem to want to talk about it very much. They’re actually going to be here in…” Pepper looked at her FitBit. “9 hours.”  
“Here? As in here here?”   
“Yes Tony.” Pepper looked at him in the eyes.  
“Not all of them made it?” Tony knew the answer to his question.  
“No.” Pepper looked down. “But let’s worry about that tomorrow. Right now, you need to brief us. I know you don’t want to, but were scared too. We want to help.”  
“Yeah, okay.” Tony took Pepper’s hand and began to walk towards the front door of the base. Happy followed. Elyse began to walk behind Happy, but turned to see Nebula taking a second look at the spaceship.   
“You okay?” Elyse asked.  
Nebula turned around sharply and didn’t answer. She walked in step with Elyse back to the house. Elyse took in Nebula’s features. Her skin was a pretty blue, but it had been worn and scarred. Her arms and a part of her face were cybernetic, and Elyse couldn’t help but wonder why. 

The group found themselves in the living room of the second floor. They sat on a white Fabio Leather Cinema sofa surrounding a glass coffee table with an antique chess board layed out. The white king and queen looked like they had been accidentally knocked over, but no one decided to fix it. They all sat quietly, waiting for Tony to begin.

“I met this wizard man, Doctor Strange, in an antique building that Banner somehow fell through the roof of.” Tony started.  
Oh boy. Elyse thought. If this was the start of his story, it was certainly going to get so much weirder.   
“Bruce was the first one to warn us about Thanos.” Tony went on.  
“Who’s Thanos?” Pepper asked.  
“A murderous monster who’s spent his whole life thinking he can save the universe by randomly killing half the population. He calls the random genocide mercy, but was willing to do anything to achieve his end goal. He is the epitome of death, and the gray line between torture and love.” Nebula’s sudden grim voice and hateful tone seemed to echo across the room. They all stared at her questioningly.  
“He’s the guy who killed everyone yesterday.” Tony clarified. “He’s got these stones that together hold the power to kill as many people as he wants.”  
“Infinity Stones.” Nebula said. “They each hold a power of the cosmos, and together are unstoppable. He sent my sister and I to find some of them. We never got them to him, so he went on a rampage, killing millions across the universe in order to find the stones. It was just another necessary sacrifice.”  
Nebula only received blank faces.   
“You wanna tell them who you are?” Tony guestured. “It’ll probably make more sense.”  
Nebula looked at the floor.  
“I’m his daughter.”  
Elyse breathed in, but didn’t exhale. It felt as though any sudden movements would break the tension in the room. Pepper brought a hand to her mouth and Happy tensed up.   
“Well, I’m adopted, sort of.” Nebula said quietly. “My sister was too. Well, adopted sister. Thanos murdered half our races, and took us to raise as his own. My sister was always his favorite. She could always best me at combat. Every time she won, Thanos replaced a piece of me with machinery.” Nebula traced her metal hand with her real one. “I’ve hated him for as long as I can remember. I almost killed him a few months ago, but got captured. He used me as leverage to get my sister to tell him where one of the stones was. The soul stone.”  
“I didn’t meet her right?” Tony asked.  
Nebula put her hand to her lips.  
“No. Thanos killed her. The soul stone requires a sacrifice. Gamora was the perfect one.” Nebula paused. “She’s also green, so you would have remembered.”   
They could tell Nebula wasn’t used to cracking jokes, but they appreciated the effort. Elyse smiled shyly at her.   
Tony continued.  
“Apparently there are six stones. The wizard gave Thanos one of them. He said it was the “only way”, so maybe that’s a good thing? I don’t know. We trapped Thanos. Almost got that Michael Jackson rip off glove off him.”  
“Wait, what are you talking about?” Pepper asked lost. “Michael Jackson?”  
“Thanos had this gauntlet that can hold all the stones. Michael Jackson had a glove that looked basically like the same thing, I’ll show you later.” Tony explained.   
“Okay, then who’s we?” Pepper asked.  
“Me, Nebula, her team, Peter, Strange-”  
“Peter?” Pepper interrupted. “Peter was on that spaceship?”  
“He followed me. I tried to send him home in that new suit I made him, but he managed to hang onto the ship.” Tony said quietly. “We defeated one of Thanos’s minions with the wizard. Soon after the guardians of the galaxy showed up,” Tony nodded to Nebula. “And we got into a little fight because we didn’t know who’s side we were on, but we worked together to attack Thanos when he came.”  
“And out of all of you, you two are…” Tony finished Pepper’s sentence.  
“The last ones left.”  
The room was quiet.   
"I wish I had better odds. I just hope Steve will can bring some sort of optimism back to the Avengers." Tony said.  
“How many?” Pepper asked finally.  
“The Guardians lost three members, minus Gamora. There was Peter Quill, Drax, and… Mantis. I’m not sure about the other two members, Groot and Rocket. Gamora said they went off with someone named Thor.” Nebula said.  
“Thor?” Tony asked loudly. “Bruce said he was dead.”  
“Gamora told me that he crashed into their ship.” Nebula shrugged. “When he woke up he warned them about Thanos and they split up. I don’t know where he would be now.”  
“We need to find your friends too.” Pepper said to Nebula. “I talked to someone earlier who said Thor came to them with two more assets. I think at least one of them made it back.”  
“I think only Mantis would have called me a friend.” Nebula said shyly. “I didn’t have a great relationship with any of the others, not even Gamora until last year. Although, I guess it’s good that one of them made it.”  
“Why didn’t you have a good relationship with them?” Happy asked.  
“I’ve tried to kill them on multiple occasions.” Nebula smirked. “But I had tried to kill my sister plenty more times and she still forgave me so I don’t know what the big deal is.”  
This time, Nebula received surprised and hesitant stares.   
“I think they should have forgiven you when your sister did.” Elyse said smirking. “I mean forgive and forget right?”  
Tony, Pepper, and Happy all gave her rude looks.  
“I’m glad someone has a little common sense.” Nebula replied. It was hard to tell if she was joking, but Elyse understood the dark humor.

They sat in silence for a few more minutes trying to understand as best they could. Elyse hopped that it would make more sense when the other Avengers came back.

Pepper tried to keep herself from yawning. She was tired, but knew how serious this situation was.   
Fortunately, only Tony noticed.   
“I think we should get some rest.” He said calmly. “It’s been a long day.”  
No one argued with that. Pepper, Tony, and Happy took the elevator up two floors. Pepper told Elyse to invite Nebula to one of the guest rooms on Elyse’s floor. Elyse brought her to the one next her her own.   
“Are you hungry?” Elyse asked. “I can get you something.”  
Nebula shook her head.  
“I’m okay.” she said as she opened the door. She didn’t walk in any farther.  
“You sure?” Elyse asked.  
“The bed is huge.” Nebula stated.  
Elyse blinked a few times in disbelief.   
“Yeah. It’s a queen sized bed.”  
“Are queen’s normally that large on this planet?”  
Elyse laughed lightly.  
“No, although, with all the cakes they ate, maybe sometimes they were. It’s just a name really.”   
Nebula nodded and walked further in.   
“Oh!” Elyse remembered something excitedly. “You can change the colors of the walls! Like this!” Elyse slid her finger up and down the colored switch, and the walls changed from white to blue to green to yellow.  
“Leave it on green.” Nebula said quietly. Elyse did. She could tell that even green walls reminded her of her sister. Elyse thought she should leave her alone.  
“I’ll say goodnight then.” Elyse said starting to walk out of the room.  
“Goodnight.”

*

Elyse slept for three more hours. She had been tossing and turning and finally got out of bed and changed into her other pair of clothes. It was 6:30 am.  
Elyse made her way down the elevator to the kitchen. She didn’t want to be rude and grab anything she wasn’t supposed to, but she did want to look around a little, and she needed a starting point she knew she could find her way back to. When she reached the kitchen, she was surprised to see she wasn’t the only one there. Nebula sat at a small table for two that was placed by a large window. Elyse accidentally tripped over a chair. Nebula heard the noise and quickly jumped into a battle stance.   
“Hey, sorry to scare you.” Elyse said maneuvering her ankle out of the chair’s leg. “I didn’t know you were up.”  
Nebula relaxed and sat back in her chair.  
“What are you doing up?” Nebula asked. “Don’t teenagers sleep more?”  
“Not with our homework load.” Elyse said. “I couldn’t really fall asleep, with everything happening. I can’t stop thinking about it. About the people I lost, the people you two lost. It… I feel so sad and angry.”  
“Yeah me too.” Nebula said. “Who did you lose?”  
“My parents.” Elyse sat in the chair across from Nebula. “I’ve texted my other family members, but only two have responded. Only one of my friends have responded too, so, I’m worried.”   
“I almost killed him.” Nebula said bitterly. “I almost slit his throat where he stood, none of this would of happened if I had succeeded. Then half the universe would still be here, Gamora would have been safe, Mantis wouldn't be dead.”  
“Well if you got close before, you can do it again, right?”   
“No. Not while he has the Infinity stones.” Nebula shook her head. “We almost got that stupid gauntlet off him. Mantis was the only reason we could though, without her it would be hard to cause a distraction.”  
“Is there a way to beat him?” Elyse asked.  
“I used to think so, but we had more fighters then. It’s pointless to go after him now anyway, he’s at his peak in power.”   
“So then we wait?” Elyse asked. “Will he ever not be powerful.”  
“I don’t know, but he’s completed his life’s purpose. He may not want the gauntlet forever.”  
“So basically the only way of beating him is getting those stones.” Elyse said. “Sounds easy enough.”  
“It’s impossible.” Nebula said coldly.  
“Nothings impossible.”  
“Killing Thanos is! Get that into your head before you do something stupid and get yourself killed!” Nebula’s sudden outburst surprised Elyse, but she didn’t back down.  
“What? You mean like you sneaking off to kill him by yourself?” Elyse challenged.  
“You don’t know what I did.”  
“You just told me that Mantis was our only real asset. If you had her, you probably could have killed him.”  
“I couldn’t bring her into it!”  
“If you had, no one would be dead!”  
The pair had grown louder and more passionate, both wanting to win the argument. At Elyse’s last comment, Nebula sat back in her chair and looked out the window distantly. Elyse sat back put looked at Nebula feeling guilty.  
“I’m sorry.” Elyse said. “I don’t know what happened. I shouldn’t have said those things.”  
“No.” Nebula said. “You’re right. If I had the guardians by my side, none of this would of happened. I just… they… we didn’t exactly trust each other. I just wanted him dead.”  
“I trust you.” Elyse offered.  
“Then you’re an idiot.”  
Elyse shrugged.  
“Not when it comes to making friends”  
Nebula looked confused.   
“You want to be friends?”  
“Well, yes. If we want to defeat Thanos, we should be on the same side.”  
“Being on a team together doesn’t make us friends.” Nebula eyed her.  
“Only if you say so.”   
“You are unbearably stubborn.”  
“Just persistent.”  
Nebula huffed. “Fine. We’re friends. Happy?”  
“Yes.”   
“Great. Who are you again?”  
“Elyse.”  
“Right I knew that.”  
Elyse smirked at Nebula.   
“Want some coffee?” Elyse asked.  
Nebula looked at her confused.  
“What is coffee?”


	3. Avengers? I hardly know 'em!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Steve and the rest of the Avengers return, they bring hope back with them. They believe there's a way to defeat Thanos, but will they be able to pull it off?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's chapter 3! Thank you so much to everyone who's read this far. I've finally brought in all the Avengers who are left after Infinity War! Hope you like it!   
> Thanks,  
> X :)

Chapter 3: Avengers? I hardly know ‘em!

 

Six hours past quickly. Tony and Pepper gave Elyse and Nebula a tour of the facility after breakfast. On one part of the tour, Tony showed them a room to practice fighting against holograms.   
“You want to hop in there later and show me what you can do?” Tony asked Elyse.  
“Really? Yes!” Elyse had been overjoyed. “That would be amazing Mr. Stark.”  
“Great, we’ll do it later after the others get here. They’ll probably want to plan the next move anyway.”  
“There’s going to be a next move?” Elyse asked excitedly.  
“Probably not.” Tony shrugged. “We don’t really have a way to beat him.”  
“Well I was talking to Nebula and she said that she’s almost killed him before, and you guys almost got the gauntlet off him.”  
“The keyword there was almost.” Tony had said. “It won’t be easy if there’s only half of us.”  
“But you still think it’s possible right?”  
“The wizard said that there was one chance out of fourteen million that we would win.” Tony said. “So I am 1/14 millionth hopeful.”  
Elyse had dropped it after that. She hadn't wanted to say anything she would regret, and she didn’t want Mr. Stark to kick her out.

After that, Elyse was left alone for the next few hours. She had put her clothes on from yesterday to go for a run on the treadmill in the large gym and then had taken a shower. She then taught Nebula how to work the TV, and left her there watching the news. She had grabbed a book out of one of the shelves from the living room and took it outside. It was called Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. She didn’t know why she picked it, but she liked the blue minimalist cover. She sat in the soft green grass in the front yard of the base and read for about a half an hour before a giant shadow cast over her. Elyse looked up to see a half cloaked gray ship directly above her. She watched as the ship fully uncloaked itself and moved closer to the landing pad. Elyse ran up the stairs of the landing area attached to the main base, and almost blew backwards as the ships stands popped out of the bottom and it landed on the concrete. The engines were cut and the door floated down to the ground fifteen feet in front of Elyse. Off the ramp walked a tall, muscular figure who Elyse recognised as the leader of the Avengers himself, Captain America. He was sporting his normal hero outfit, but had ripped the star out of the center of it. He had also grown a beard since the last time he was in the public eye. Behind him came the Black Widow in all her confident glory. She was blonde now, and Elyse thought she looked amazing. On the other side of Cap was Thor. Only, his hair was short and he was holding a new hammer-axe.  
The captain gave her a confused look. Elyse was grinning from ear to ear, and she realised it was probably putting them off, but she couldn’t help herself.   
“Hi.” He said to her.  
“Hi!” Elyse’s excitement certainly came out. “You’re...you’re the Avengers! That's so cool!”  
“Right… I’m Steve Rogers, this is Natasha Romanoff, and that's Thor.” Steve said slowly.  
“Yo Captain!” A deep shrill voice came out of the ship. “This hell-hole is your teams base?”  
To Elyse’s surprise, a raccoon walked out of the ship.   
“This is Rocket.” Steve sighed.   
“Oh.” Elyse looked at him sideways.  
Behind Rocket came only two others.   
“Colonel Rhodes, and Bruce Banner.” Steve finished.  
“Who’s this?” Rhodes asked, looking at the girl in front of them.  
“I’m Elyse.”  
“Elyse?” Natasha asked. “Did you know Wanda?”  
“Yeah. Yeah I did.”  
“She told me about you.” Natasha smiled. “Apparently you’ve got some pretty cool powers.”  
“I… well, I mean… I have powers, and I want to use them for good, so that’s why I’m here.”  
“Do you know Tony?” Steve asked.  
“Not really.” Elyse said. “I came here yesterday because I wanted to help you guys, but only Pepper was here. Mr. Stark arrived with this woman named Nebula last night.”  
“You bet your ass he did.”  
Sure enough, when Elyse turned to the left she saw Tony, Pepper, Nebula and Happy walking out of the glass doors and onto the landing area. When they arrived Rocket was the first to speak.  
“Seriously!” He said addressing Nebula. “Out of the five people not with me’n Groot, you’re the one that was spared?”  
“Don’t assume I had not wished it was the tree who survived.” Nebula said bitterly.  
“Yeah well Groot didn’t deserve it, and you did.”   
“Neither did Mantis!” Nebula challenged. “And Gamora didn’t deserve the fate she got either!”  
“What do you mean?” Rocket asked. “About Gamora?”  
“Thanos killed her himself, not with the gauntlet.” Nebula looked away from him. “It requires a sacrifice to get the soul stone. It had to be someone he loved, a soul for a soul. He came back with the stone, and Gamora didn’t.”  
“Wow I can’t believe that jackass loved anyone.” Rocket said. “I’m not surprised it wasn’t you though.”  
“I was just a waste of parts.” Nebula said.  
“Yeah, well, not when it comes to killing Thanos.” Rocket looked at her.  
“What you’re being nice to me now?”  
“Well look around, blue. We don’t exactly have the arsonal we started with.”  
“That’s true.” Steve cut in. “But I think there’s still a way to beat him.” Steve turned to address Tony.   
“It’s good to see you again, Tony.”  
“Yeah, you too cap.” The two shook hands.   
“Let’s go inside.” Pepper said. “We need to catch up on what happened, and you’ll probably want something to eat.”  
Steve nodded and they all came inside. Steve and his team went to change in their rooms, and then came to the living room. Elyse sat next to Natasha, and Nebula sat next to her. Tony and Pepper sat together on the other side of the couch, while Steve sat in a separate chair across from him. The others scattered about the rest of the couch. Rhody on the other side of Tony, Rocket and Thor across from Nebula and Natasha, and Bruce awkwardly sat next to Elyse.   
“So…” Natasha said curiously. “Who wants to start?”  
“Cap?” Tony offered.  
Steve sat up in his chair.  
“We got a call from Bruce.” he started. “I actually thought it was you, Tony.”  
“Yeah well I was busy saving a wizard in a giant donut.” Tony looked around at the confused faces. “Rogers can finish his crazy story first, and then I’ll start mine.”  
Steve continued.  
“He explained the situation with the stones, and Thanos, he asked us if we could find Vision.”  
“I’m guessing we meant you, Nat, and Sam?” Tony asked.  
Steve nodded.  
“The three of us found both Vision and Wanda in Edinburgh. They were on one of their ‘dating retreats’ or something. They were supposed to come back that day, but they wanted more time together. When we got there, they were being attacked by two of Thanos’s minions trying to get the stone. We were able to scare them off.”  
“It was stupid of them to be gone for that long.” Natasha said solemnly.  
“Sounds like they were in love though.” Elyse cut in. “I think it’s romantic.”  
Natasha shrugged in agreement.  
“True, but they promised us they would be back. Leaving for too long would make them easy targets, and obviously it did.”  
“From there, “ Steve continued. “We came back to the base. Met up with Rhodes and Bruce, and then headed to Wakanda because it was our best bet at protecting Vision.”  
“We thought we could separate the stone from Vision, and keep him alive.” Bruce said. “But there wasn’t enough time. It was basically a war zone. We fought aliens again, but they were almost to much for us until Thor and Rocket showed up.”  
“Yes well, I had my axe halfway inside Thanos’s chest when he snapped his fingers.” Thor said glumly. “I should have just killed him then.”  
“You should of gone for his head.” Nebula said.  
Thor looked at her quizzingly.  
“That’s what he said.”  
Nebula’s eyes grew wide for only a second until she looked at the floor.  
“That makes sense.” Rocket laughed.  
“Shut up fox.” Nebula glared at him.  
“I’m not a fox!”  
“No, he’s a rabbit.” Thor said confidently.  
“Actually…” Tony started.  
“Who cares.” Steve cut in. “The plan was to distract Thanos’s minions until we could destroy that stone. Wanda was the only one of us who could, but the army was too much for us so she jumped into the field. One of Thanos’s minions managed to find Vision and attack him, stopping the surgery to get the stone out of his head. We managed to kill him, and Nat, Wanda, and Okoye killed another one.”  
“I killed one too, the big one, just so everyone knows.” Bruce said shyly.  
“So did I, Bruce, not that it's a competition or anything.” Tony added.   
Steve rolled his eyes, but smiled slightly.   
“Anyway, Thanos came soon after that. Vision knew he was coming. He had five stones by that point, so he was completely unstoppable. Every hit he took as if it was nothing. All he had to do was close his fist and you’d be in some form of pain.”  
“Not as much as Wanda’s.” Natasha said darkly. “Since the stone wasn’t out of Vision’s head, she had to destroy it, along with Vision. She didn’t want to, of course, since she loved him, but she knew the fate of the universe was at stake. She was able to destroy the stone, but Thanos didn’t even seem to care. We were all confused as to why, but then he used one of the stones, the time stone, to go back in time a minute before, where Vision was alive. He ripped the stone from Vision’s head, killing him for a second time.”  
“But I could have killed Thanos then.” Thor continued Natasha’s story. “I almost did, as I said, but Thanos snapped his fingers and the gauntlet exploded. Everything was quiet for a moment, and then people just started to dissolve.”  
“He achieved his life’s goal.” Nebula siad. “Bringing balance to the universe by killing half the population at random.”  
“That’s what Gamora said.” Thor noticed.  
“That also makes sense.” Rocket smirked looking at Nebula.  
“Why?” Rhody asked.  
“I’m the youngest daughter of Thanos, and sister of Gamora.” Nebula said.  
“But she’s good!” Elyse added quickly. “Mr. Stark can tell you that she hates Thanos as much as you do.”  
“Gamora seemed a good person as well.” Thor said. “I’m sorry to hear about your sister.”  
Nebula nodded a thank you.  
“Why was his goal to kill half the population of the universe?” Pepper asked.  
“His planet was on the brink of extinction.” Nebula said. “It was overpopulated, and there weren’t enough resources for them to survive. He suggested they kill half the population at random, so that the other half could live better lives. The suggestion was automatically dropped, and soon after the population completely died off. He wanted to make sure that doesn’t happen to any planet in the future. With all six stones, he could snap his fingers and kill half the universe. He thought it was merciful.”   
The room was silent for a while, until Steve spoke.   
“Tony, you want to tell us what happened with the wizard and the donut?”  
“Yeah sure.” Tony sat up. “This wizard man, his name was Dr. Steven Strange, came from a sanctuary in Manhattan after Bruce fell through the roof of it. He warned me about the stones, and he even had one himself, the time stone. While I was there, a giant ship shaped like a donut came flying through the streets. We fought two aliens, but Strange got captured, and then Peter showed up and tried to save him, but they both got sucked into the ship.”  
“Peter?” Natasha asked. “Like Spider-Man, high school Peter?”  
“Yep, apparently he had a school trip to MOMA.” Tony said. “I followed them up to the ship, and I’m guessing that's when Bruce called you. I tried to send Peter home, but he snuck back on the ship. Anyway, long story short, we killed squidward, saved the wizard, and ended up on his home planet, Titan. We then met the Guardians of the Galaxy-.”  
“Who?” Steve asked.   
“They were my team.” Rocket said. “Me, Groot, Peter Quill, Drax, Gamora, and Mantis. We saved the galaxy twice. Nebula somewhat helped the second time.”  
“Yeah, but Groot and Gamora weren’t with the rest of the team.” Tony continued. “Thanos showed up, and we trapped him, and we almost got the gauntlet off of him, but then Nebula put two and two together that he killed Gamora, and Quill was dating her then, so he attacked Thanos at the exact wrong time. I can’t blame him though, if it had been me I might have almost done the same thing. After that, Thanos completely destroyed us. He was about to kill me, but Strange gave up the time stone. He said it was “the only way”, and earlier he had traveled through time to see how many possible outcomes there were. Apparently, out of fourteen million, he saw only one where we beat Thanos, so maybe this is all part of some grand future plan, although it sounds stupid.”  
“I hope it is some grand plan.” Steve said. “For our sake. Although, I think we have the beginnings of a plan to stop Thanos.”  
“A plan?” Tony scoffed. “We already lost.”  
“Not if we get the time stone.” Steve said. “When Thanos snapped his fingers, the gauntlet seemed to break. It was charred and beaten up, like it was powerless. He may not be able to use it again. All we have to do is find Thanos, take the stones for ourselves, use the time stone to go back in time when the universe was safe, and kill him then.”  
“Yeah great plan, cap.” Tony said sarcastically. “But you just said the gauntlet was unuseable. How are we supposed to get the stones?”  
“Because I know the dwarf that made the gauntlet.” Thor’s deep voice had a sense of pride to it.   
“What?” Nebula asked quickly. “Can he make us one?”  
“Possibly,” Thor started. “But we still don’t know where Thanos is yet.”  
“I bet I can find him.” Nebula’s eagerness was somewhat scary. “I will find him, and we will kill him once and for all.”  
“I like your thinking!” Thor grinned.   
“Let’s slow down a little.” Steve said. “I want Thanos dead as much as everyone, but if we rush into this we will most certainly lose again, and there will never be another chance at killing him. We need to train, plan, and make sure every little detail is figured out before we attempt this.”  
“Steve’s right.” Natasha said. “And that starts with making sure we are all healthy. Most of us are pretty beaten up, so we can plan this first, and do some light training. Nebula, you can’t go out in space by yourself. If Thanos finds you before you find him, the plan is toast.”  
“But isn’t toast a good thing?” Nebula was very confused.  
“It’s an Earth saying for certain defeat.” Elyse said.  
“That doesn’t make any sense.” Nebula said. “Toast is delicious.”  
“You’re not wrong.” Natasha said. “But we will be most certainly defeated without your knowledge of Thanos. Just start thinking of places he might be for now.”  
Nebula nodded, understanding.   
“We’re going to need some extra help.” Natasha continued. “So start making a list of all your superhero friends.”  
“What about T’Challa?” Tony asked. “He’s a great asset.”  
This was met with silence.  
“Oh.” Tony breathed. “Who’s king now?”  
“Queen.” Natasha corrected. “His younger sister Shuri. She’s smart, and not a bad fighter. She’ll help.”  
Bruce’s stomach rumbled.  
“Um, that was Hulk.” He said.  
The room laughed softly.  
“Let’s make some lunch.” Steve said. “I can help.”  
“Like we’d want any of your hundred year old dishes.” Tony said getting up.  
“Hey, my dishes are good!” Steve followed Tony into the kitchen.  
“Well, I’m not getting between that.” Pepper said.  
“I am!” Rhody said. “I don’t trust either of them with lunch!”  
They laughed again, lessening the tension in the room.   
“I’m going to take a shower.” Natasha announced.  
“Oh me too!” said Bruce.  
“Want me to join you this time?” Natasha asked flirtatiously.  
“Well um, you see uh…”  
“I was kidding, idiot.” Natasha smiled. “We’re not back there yet.”  
Bruce smiled and escorted Natasha out of the room. 

*

Pepper showed Rocket and Thor around the new facility while Nebula and Elyse sat in the living room. When everyone was ready they all ate in a dining room around a circular table. The boys had made a variety of sandwiches, and Steve had even cut the crusts off of half of them out of old habit. There was nothing but laughter and good vibes that lunch, and it was something they all desperately needed. 

After lunch, Tony and Natasha took Elyse to a room they called a MTF, or Mental Training Facility.  
“I’m going to test your battle strategy with some brain games, and then ask you some questions.” Tony said, pushing a button on a panel. A hologram screen came up showing a football field with two teams.   
“You’re the blue team.” Tony said. “You need to move your players down the line and score a touchdown.”  
“Okay,” Elyse thought for a moment. She noticed that the other team had put their defenders on the sides, so they could come in and take down the quarterback, and had left an open area in the middle. It would be hard for her players to defend right down the middle, but if they pushed them to either side it would be her best bet.  
“I know nothing about football because I believe it is a sexist sport,” Natasha nodded. “but I’d want the guy who runs with the ball to go straight down the middle. If the defense is good enough, and can push the offense to either side, the running guy has an easy path to the...touching area?”  
“Touchdown zone.” Tony corrected. He clicked a second button. “This is a riddle, try it.”  
Elyse looked at the screen. The riddle read:  
“I can only live where there is light, but I die if the light shines on me. What am I?”  
“A shadow.”  
“That didn’t take long.” Tony said somewhat annoyed.  
“I am a shadow.” Elyse reminded him. “I know everything there is to know about them.”  
“Okay fine, next.” Tony clicked a third button. “Here’s a real mission situation.”   
The screen showed a picture of a rough looking man. Next to his picture was a criminal record. He was accountable for 20 counts of murder and was leader of a gang.   
“Here’s the mission,” Tony started. “This man is leading an attack against you, me, Nat, and Steve with a group of other people. He’s entered an area where he wants to trap us, an area with no escape routes. What does that mean to us?”  
“That he knows it’s his last mission.” Elyse said. “He’s willing to die.”  
“No.” Tony crossed his arms. “It means that he’s not afraid to make a mess on the way out.”  
“Actually,” Elyse said. “It could mean that, but if he’s fighting the Avengers, and there isn’t an escape route, then he probably knew he was going into the mission knowing it was his last. He probably had some past hatred towards one of us, if he was that willing to die.”  
She looked at Tony’s annoyed blank face. Natasha was grinning.  
“She’s smart Stark.” Natasha said. “She’d be helpful to have.”  
“Let’s see how she fights first.” Tony said.   
They followed Tony to the HTR, or the Holographic Training Room. Elyse walked into the dark room. Tony and Natasha watched from the darkened window.  
“Okay kid.” she heard Tony’s voice from over the loudspeaker. “Time to show me what you can do.”  
“I won’t let you down, Mr. Stark.” Elyse said taking a battle stance. Tony’s response was clicking a button on the controller outside the window. A light blue hologram of a person appeared in front of her. It came at her and she smoothly moved to the side and dodged the attack. A shadow came out of her hand and she shaped it into a blade. Striking quickly she sliced the hologram in half and it disappeared. Two more holograms appeared. She used her shadow to create a block underneath her feet, and flew upwards. She flipped backward, sending her block shadow straight into the holograms. This time, four holograms appeared, one on each side of her. She was the first to run for the one in front of her. She extended the dark blade on her arm and sliced the first hologram. She sliced a second one, then disappeared through the floor and came back behind the last two, slicing them both at the same time. Tony clicked another button. This time, a dozen holograms appeared across the room from her. She raised both hands and emitted two bolts of dark power, decimating the enemy. The last wave had twenty holograms. She moved through the floor and popped back up at the far wall far away from the holograms. Before they even knew what hit them, two black wall sized rectangles slammed together, smushing the holograms. She was about to celebrate when out of the corner of her eye she spotted a light blue figure dropping from the ceiling. She quickly dived into her shadow in the floor and moved up the wall and onto the ceiling. The hologram didn’t even look up when Elyse pulled out the blade on her arm, turned in mid air, and sliced off the head of the final hologram. Tony turned a small light on in the room.  
Natasha was again grinning. Tony’s face was blank, but Elyse could see pride in his eyes.   
“Not bad, kid.” Tony said as she exited the room. “But you still have a lot of work to do.”  
Elyse nodded.  
“I’ll work as hard as I can.” She said. “I want to help you. I want to help defeat Thanos.”  
“I can train you.” Natasha said. “Magic is all good and fine, but you’re going to need to learn how to throw a decent punch, and keep up your energy levels.”  
“I’ll get to work on a suit.” Tony said.   
“A suit?” Elyse asked breathlessly.   
“Yep. If you want to be a superhero, you need a stupid looking costume. It’s part of the job.” Tony said. “Pick your favorite dark color besides black.”  
“Uh… navy blue.”  
“Perfect.”

*

The next few hours passed quickly. They talked for a while, gave yet another tour of the compound, and relaxed. The others went to bed early as they were all tired, but Elyse couldn’t of slept even if she had tried. 7:00 was simply to early for a busy high school teen. She was sitting on her bed with her computer open playing math games. She was listening to her favorite Spotify playlist full of Radiohead, The Smiths, The Beatles, and a hint of Ariana Grande. Just as Creep by Radiohead came on, Elyse heard a knock at the door. She turned down her music and called; “Come in!”  
It was Natasha, holding a pile of various clothes. Natasha looked at Elyse sideways.   
“What are you doing?” She asked curiously.  
“Math.” Elyse answered.  
“Why?” Natasha scoffed slightly as she moved farther in the room.  
“Its… distracting.”  
Natasha nodded.  
“I suppose so.”  
Nat walked over to the bed where Elyse was laying. Elyse sat up and sat in the middle of the bed.   
“These are some of my clothes that I think would fit you.” Natasha said. “Sorry everything's mostly black, but I think there's a few blues, reds, and like one pink in here.”  
Elyse looked at her lovingly.  
“Thanks Nat, you didn’t need too.”  
Natasha laughed.  
“Sure I did. I mean, if your going to be staying here for a while your going to need some clothes, and judging by that really cute tartan bag of yours, you only brought, what, two pairs of clothes?”   
Elyse nodded, giggling.   
Natasha paused.  
“How are you?” She asked caringly.   
Elyse shrugged.  
“Better, but it’s still hard.”  
Natasha smiled slightly at her. She then lifted her chin quizzingly.  
“What are you listening too?” She asked.  
“Creep by Radiohead.”  
“Oh.” Natasha stood. The music played softly in the background.  
“But I’m a creep.”  
“You’re not a creep.” Natasha said.  
“I’m a weirdo.”  
“But maybe a little bit of a weirdo.” Elyse laughed at that.  
“What the hell am I doing here?”  
“You’re here to help the Avengers.” Natasha continued.  
“I don’t belong here.”  
“And anyone with the courage to come and offer their help belongs here.” She finished. “You certainly do. Don’t forget it.”  
Elyse smiled.  
“Thanks, Nat.”  
Natasha made her way to the door.  
“Try those on, keep what you like.” She said. “I’ll take you shopping once stores re-open.”  
Natasha turned before she walked out.  
“See you tomorrow, Shadow.”


End file.
